Muhammad West – Back to Basics – Episode 02

			Man Rahim al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil alameen wa Salatu was Salam ala Sayyidina Muhammad wa ala alihi wa
sahbihi Jermaine, my beloved brothers and sisters in Islam. Assalamu alaykum warahmatullahi
wabarakatuh. Thank you so much for joining us this episode two of our series back to basics, the
essentials of Islam. In the series inshallah, we will look to explain what it is, what is the
essence of this religion of Islam? What are the fundamentals of Islam? What does it mean to be a
Muslim? What is it that you should do? What is the purpose of life? How do you act? How do you
practice the most fundamental rituals of Salah purification in the series in sha Allah Neela. This
		

			is Episode Two. In Episode One, we spoke about the word Islam. So we said Islam is the second
biggest religion on Earth, nearly 50% of the world's population, they testify that this is the way
of life. And if we were to ask what is Islam we see linguistically, the name the word Islam, it
means to submit, and therefore the Muslim is the one who submits. And this religion is a religion of
submission. And we see Furthermore, that this is really the religion of all of creation, that
everything in creation appears to follow a system, it follows an order, it follows a purpose, it
follows a function, everything in creation, all of nature, from the tiniest atoms, to the biggest of
		

			galaxies, from the oldest of structures, to the newest things that are forming, everything follows a
perfect system, within nature, everything submits, everything submits, and therefore, mankind who is
been blessed with free will, our place on this earth, our taste, if you will on this earth, is to
see if we would submit along with the rest of creation. Or if we would reject, we will fully we can
choose to be a Muslim a submitter, or to be a one who rejects this way of life. So this is what
Islam means. And this is what the concept of Islam is. We see also very interestingly, of all the
great religions on earth of all the major faiths on Earth, this religion of Islam, and this title of
		

			Muslim, Islam is the only religion where it's scripture, its actual scripture mentions the name
Islam, you won't find the word Christian Christianity in the Bible, you won't find Hindu, you won't
find Buddhism within the Scripture. Whereas this religion, the name, Islam, is given by the Creator
Himself. And the title of Muslim Allah says, I am the one who named you, as Muslims as those who
submit, and that is something, you know, something we take great pride in as believers of this
religion, while hamdulillah so we say this religion is about submission and submitting. The next
logical question is, who is it that Muslims submit to? Who do you and I, as a Muslim, submit to the
		

			non Muslim asks you, okay, so you submit that is what your religion is, who are you submitting to?
We will of course, say we submit to God. So the next question is, who is the God of Islam? We call
him Allah? Who is Allah? Why is he called Allah? What does it mean? Who is this Allah, the same God
of the Bible? Is the same God of the Hindus, the same creator of the Buddhists, who is the God of
Islam? What is the God of Islam? And who is Allah Subhana Allah, Islam, if we look at the theology
that the belief of Muslims, Islam is, the concept of God is a very simple, easy concept to
understand. It is, in fact, the simplest of all the religions in explaining who God is. And Allah
		

			subhanho wa Taala refers us back to the great reviver father of monotheism, the revival of bringing
people back to the belief in one creator, Ibrahim alayhis salam, when he speaks about monotheism.
When you want to talk about monotheism or the belief in one creator and one God, we want to
understand the concept of who Allah is, if you were to ask who is Allah, then we go back to perhaps
the most of the Viet personality on Earth, a man who, more than 50% of the world admires as a man of
guidance, whether it is the Jews, the Christians, the Muslims, even the Hindu, some say, Brahman
refers to Ibrahim alayhis, salam, this man that really explains the concept of God in a very simple,
		

			very easy to understand, very easy to understand why so little backstory, who is Ibrahim Ibrahim
alayhis salam, Who was he? He brought him on Islam, you know, many, many 1000s of years ago, long
before Mohammed wasallam, long before Jesus Christ. And he was from the city called or in Iraq, he
was the son of an idol makeup. So his people they believed and they worship idols, they would be
ill, they would need something and they would go to an idol. And they would ask idols for
assistance. And Abraham's father was the man who would make the idols so what people would do is
they would come to you know, Ibrahim is dead and they would say as his name was as a, you know, I
		

			need an idol. It looks like this an idol. It looks like that, because I was
		

			problem, they'll give the specifications as I would say, no problem. And therefore you would then
start working on making the idle. And then he would present the idle to this man to the customer,
and the customer would pay for the idle. And then the customer will start worshiping the idle, would
devote sacrifices to the idle, would turn to the idle for assistance. So as a young child, Ibrahim
alayhis, Salam could not understand this. How is it that that same idol that my dad made, who was
just a stick oil stone yesterday, who was off made lying on the ground, a piece of lifeless wood is
now in the middle of town being worshipped. People are asking you for forgiveness, people are asking
		

			it for for money to cure an incurable disease. How is this possible? So it didn't make sense to him?
Also, at his in his time, he found people worshipping planets in the heavenly bodies, he would find
them worshipping the sun. And then he thought to himself well, at night when the sun sets, who do I
turn to these people that pray to the sun? When the sun sets at night, then who do they worship?
When you saw people worshipping the moon, and when he saw what the moon gets bigger and it gets
smaller, and then at the end of the month, he disappears completely for a few days, and then he
comes back? Who do they worship when the moon disappears? So then he starts to think about creation
		

			and he will start to think about who is God who is my Creator? Who is my Lord? So Ibrahim explains
very clearly, Allah subhanho wa Taala tells us his story when Allah says, What do Allah He never
Ibrahim. So recite to them the news? The story of Ibrahim is Ali Avi. So when Ibrahim said to his
father were comi and his people, Mata Abu and what are you worshiping? What are these things that
you're worshiping? hollow, not a cinnamon for Nevada, caffeine, they said we are worshipping idols,
and we are devoted in our worship to these idols. Order. Ibrahim asked him * yes, my owner, is
the owner to the year you can the idols actually understand what you're saying, when you ask them
		

			for help. Do they even hear what you're saying? The yo yo da? Oh, yeah. And found him? Oh, you're
the rune? Oh, do they benefit you? Can these idols give you anything of benefit? Or can they harm
you? All? Well, Richard nabba, Anna karateka falloon. They said, you know what we found our father's
doing this. And that's why we are doing it. We just following what our forefathers were doing. So
Ibrahim said color of a mile Quantum daboo. Ibrahim is asking them Have you really thought about uh,
do you really consider as it you know, come across your mind to think what am i worshiping? Have you
really thought about this ultimate about? I don't have you really you and your father's forefathers
		

			even took a minute to think to stop and think clearly, what am I worshiping? Then Ibrahim says
indeed, all of these things you're worshipping are enemies to me I'm I reject everything that you
worship, other than the only one who I worship is the load of the I mean, Rob Balala mean, the load
of all of creation, the one who has created everything. So now we said yeah, Ibrahim, Ibrahim, if
you reject or the worship of the idols, you don't want to worship our idols. You don't want to
worship the sun, the moon, the stars, these stones, graves, if you're rejecting all of these things,
then who is it that you're worshipping? So now Ibrahim explains who his God is. And this is our God,
		

			this is the God of all things you blinds is the one who I worship and levy Halekulani for your deen
I worship the one who created me and it is he who guides me, well Levy, who are you turning money on
your screen, he is the one who feeds me and He gives me drink or either married to for Jolla sreen.
And when I become sick, he is the one that kills me, one lady, you mean to me that he is the one who
will cause me to die from marine and then he will bring me back to life after my death. One or the
other. Now, I healthfully hottie to Medina, and he is the one I hope I aspire will forgive me of my
sins on the day of judgment when I come back to him. So this is Ibrahim's Lord. This is the one that
		

			Ibrahim says, I worship. I don't worship anyone else except this one, the one who made me the one
who feeds me, the one who gives me that sense that I'm the one that brings the food that when I'm
ill, he's the one that can kill me. And ultimately, I know I'm going to die. He's the one I'm going
back to that one, whatever name you want to call him. That is my God, that is my Lord. And that is
the one I submit to. So in Islam, we are required to worship as Ibrahim had worshipped, to follow
the same methodology to ask, Who is the one that made me ultimately, I know as a by necessity, by my
innate human by essential knowledge. I know I must have come from some way
		

			And ultimately I'm going to die, I'm going to go some way, the one that made me and the one that is
in control of the system. When I look at all of creation, there is a perfect system in place,
someone must have put that system in place. He The one who made that, who made me who controls
everything, that one is my God, that is my Lord. So let's call him for now the Creator, we will talk
about the name, Allah will explain what the term Allah means. Who is Allah? Why is he called Allah
in the Islamic faith. But for now, most of creation, most of mankind, apart from a few a segment of
atheists, the vast majority of mankind acknowledges that ultimately, there is one creator, there is
		

			one who made all of existence, and he's in control of all of existence, that one is the one who we
submit to as Muslims, he is the one who we submit to. And I think if you ask most of humanity, you
know, leave the term Islam leave the term Allah, we asked them, Do you believe that the is an
ultimate creator? Most of mankind will say, Yes. And you will ask them, Do you believe that?
Ultimately, life is all about submitting and worshiping and obeying the creator? They will say yes.
And that really, in essence, is the beginning and the foundation of this religion of Islam. This is
the foundation of Islam. And then of course, we go further and beyond that, to ask to ask, How do I
		

			submit to this creator? What is it that He requires of me? Because Surely, if there is a creator,
and he made me and he placed me on this earth, and he wants me to submit to Him, how do I submit to
Him? How do I live my life in a way which pleases Him? And that of course is the detailed the
detailed way of life of Islam, which we'll talk to inshallah, as we go along in the series, before
we go into detail as to who Allah is, before we go into detail, what does allow one from me and how
do I live a life which pleases allow which is in submission to Allah, we live in a time in a very
unique time, a strange time. In fact, we a certain segment of society, a very vocal segment of
		

			society, has moved towards the rejection of Allah or the rejection of a divine being altogether.
atheism. The rise of atheism is a new phenomenon. If you look at the history of, of humanity,
atheism is really just a new trend that has come in terms of humanity. It's something which very few
nations of the past have, in fact, there is no nation in the past, you can really say that was a
purely atheistic, it is really a new phenomenon. And if you look at, for example, the history of
atheism, the very first book of atheism in the English language, is only about 200 years old. So
this is a relatively new trend and new faith, if you will, but it is one that is, is becoming
		

			increasingly prominent, and you find many people who are born even into Muslim households, Christian
households, beginning to question their faith, they're beginning to ask, How do I know that there is
a greater being above this? You asked me to submit to some supernatural power, some all powerful
being who created everything, but how do I even know he is the Why should I spend my life praying to
Him? Following his injunction staying away from what he is prohibited? If I don't even know is that
can you prove that he exists? So how do we know he's the from an Islamic perspective? If you look at
the Quran, the Quran does not give much detail into proving the existence of Allah, it in fact, the
		

			Quran begins at hamdulillahi Rabbil aalameen Praise be to the Lord of all of creation, it already
begins with the assumption that you know, by necessity, mankind already believes that there is a
creator, mankind already knows I could not have come from nothing, there must be a greater being
above this. So Islam spends a lot more time speaking about correcting the belief in which creator in
which God and how to worship Him and living your life, then actually explaining in depth in terms of
proving his existence, but because this is something which is the time that we live in, we have to
address we ask, How can I prove that Allah exists? How can I prove that these are God? So Allah
		

			subhanaw taala says to us, Allah exists? Will they created without the being anything? Or are they
the creators and sort of tour? First number 35? Allah subhanaw taala says to us, all mankind, do you
come out of nothing with you come from nothing? Or are you the creators of all of this? Have you
ever seen? Have you ever seen anything in the universe coming from nothing into existence? Have you
ever seen a planet that was, you know, born out of complete nothingness? No, have you seen a vacuum
of vacuum in a vacuum cleaner? a vacuum in science is something which has nothing inside it ever it
was found a vacuum and you come looking at vacuum A few days later and inside you find some atoms,
		

			no, science will dictate that you know that we know empirically. We know with fact that from nothing
you cannot produce something new
		

			That everything in existence had a beginning, there is a big bang, everything that is alive was born
to something before it, there must be a cause an originating cause to everything. And Allah subhanho
wa Taala then says, This is the creation of Allah, everything you see around you, is an evidence
that he's there that this is my creation. So show me that which those whom you worship have created
besides Allah. So show me if you if you deny a lot exist, Allah is instead of, instead of us asking,
prove to me that Allah exists Allah, Allah turns the question around and says, Well, if I didn't
exist, then show me where did all of this come from? What explanation Can you give me for the
		

			existence of the universe? A very, very simple thing. If you don't believe that there was an
originating cause of all of creation, that there wasn't someone who made creation, then explain to
me where all of this came from, because you and I know with certainty, that for something to be in
existence, it must have come from some way as the beta one, an educated electorate beta one, when
asked about how do you know Allah exists? He says, you know, when I'm in the desert, and I see
footprints in the desert, I know, a camel or an animal walked here, how do I know because there are
footprints, that's the evidence. So they were looking at the stars of the moon, the sun, all of
		

			this, I know, I didn't make it, my father's didn't make it, no one else made it. So it must have
come from something Supreme, something above all of that, that's how I know is the if you come in
the middle of the desert, and you find huge structures, you know, palaces and, you know, fortresses
being made automatically, you know, they must have been some human race or some people that lived
here, and they built this, how do we know that they live there, because of the evidence of, of these
things. So really, the fitrah the natural inclination of a person, and he's a natural, logical
intellect to tell him, everything I see in creation that I didn't make, must have come from someone
		

			with knowledge, someone with expertise, someone with, with a deep intellect with a purpose, he
created this. In fact, the more we study, the sad reality is, sometimes atheists are the most
knowledgeable, educated people in our society, and all that it should be these people that are the
most devout worshippers of Allah, because the more you study, as a doctor, the deeper you go into
biology, you will realize that the his purpose that every cell in the body was designed perfectly,
even our advanced technology cannot replicate what our bodies are born with. When we look deep into
space, we see that everything follows a unique pattern, we cannot replicate that no matter how much
		

			we try, we cannot replicate that which is already in nature. So this should only tell us the is a a
designer, a an architect, a creator, to all of these things. So therefore Islam says, by default,
his natural inclination, which is called the fitrah, everyone is born with this yearning with a sort
of innate knowledge that the is a higher being, which made me and Islam mentioned, the Prophet
Solomon says that every single child is born on the fitrah. There was a study that was done, that if
you ask children, the natural default response would be that there is a higher purpose a higher
creator, without being indoctrinated by the appearance that naturally children inclined to the
		

			belief that there is a God or a creator. Of course, there are certain complicated questions. What if
there is a creator? Why is there so much suffering in the world? If there is a creator? Why is the
devil Why didn't this creator make everything perfect? these kind of questions are questions that
one in a modern day and age that we live in, we will need to try and attempt to answer these
difficult questions. And these are the kinds of questions which you know, as young people we might
have, it might cross our minds. Even though ultimately the wisdom of many of these things belong to
Allah, we know that the Creator is above our intellect, what my mind can comprehend is limited to
		

			what I know, we as the creator, his intellect is limitless, nonetheless. inshallah, in our next
episode, we'll start discussing the arguments that atheists make, to question Allah's existence, we
will address these arguments to the best of our ability. And of course, ultimately, we'll say that
there is a certain level in which we as humans are limited, this is a limit which humans cannot go
beyond. But we turn the question around. If you and I cannot answer every single question and
atheist asked with regards to God, we say, well, the logic of that is beyond us. If that is
unacceptable to you, then we turn the question around and say, Well, if we reject that the creator
		

			if we start with the premise that Okay, there is no greater than how would you explain everything
else, then bring us a better explanation than that of God. And you'd find many times when we debate
with an atheist, an atheist is very good at asking you
		

			Question, but not very good at answering a question. They can tell you about the the gaps in your
belief, but you ask them but now what do you believe he will say I believe nothing at all. So while
we might have holes in lbds, which we cannot fully understand or fully explain, he has nothing no
belief, no answer. So this Viola is even more illogical and more irrational for us to follow, but
we'll go into that discussion, inshallah, in detail, as it is something which is very relevant in
the times that we live in, and we ask Allah Subhana Allah to guide us. Thank you so much for any
questions, concerns or comments with Mohammed Jima Gotham, Sokoloff a
		

			lie obrigado